Advantages

Disadvantages

great storage bed at a reasonable price

When I thought of setting up my 3year old daughter's room, I wanted it to have some elements of fun in it that would make her want to sleep in the room and spend a lot of time in there as well. I had a lot of ideas but most of those seem to be quite pricey and if not then it needed a whole huge lot of space.

I had already bought the wall decorations and curtain and rug and what I needed was a bed and some storage bits and while looking through a littlewood catalogue I was quite happy to discover a nice storage bed that would be suitable for a 3 year old and at the same time have a bit of funk to it.

To be really very honest on seeing the picture of the bed and its name... 'charlie mid-sleeper ..with a little boy lying on it ..you wouldn't really think of it as serving as a girl's bed at the first glance... however since its in beech effect , it didn't really matter to me and I went ahead and invested on it after reading through a few reviews.

_+_Where did I order it from and for how much _+_

In the past I have mostly ordered home furniture only after having a look at them and trying them out (for instance sofa), before buying, but as I don't have a littlewood nearby I had to rely on the reviews on the littlewood website. I ordered it from Littlewood direct and it can be bought from any of the online store's sharing the same catalogue... Kays, Marshall wards, Additions direct , empirestore and the like.

It cost me £175 as there weren't any discounts or offers on at the moment and I wanted that bed badly. Being a heavy item I needed to pay the typical delivery charges of £5.95 as well. I think one could get this bed for around £150-£215 and should have a good look around before commiting to buy it.

_+_ The Package _+_

Ah well there were three of them and another fourth one for the hypoallergic mattress I ordered with it .

All three packages were extremely heavy all over 35kgs and it is recommended that they should be carried by at least two people. I didn't want the delivery people stomping on the new carpet with their muddy boots and asked them to leave the stuff downstairs and that was a big mistake.

I had to go through all the three packs before I could get the instruction leaflet in the packet 3 of 3 ... I do understand Arabic..but I am sure they don't know that... one would expect it to be in the packet 1of 3.

I have to give the company a 5/5 for the instruction manual though as it was very easy to read through the booklet and assemble the bed. I have assembled two different beds from two branded places before this and their instructions weren't anywhere as precise as this one. The user-friendly 3-D diagrams were really comprehensive and self-explanatory. It had a list of items that would be required before starting on the bed and this was great for a not so organized person like me.

According to the instructions I had to first see that all the parts had come through before starting assembling , as the company made it clear that the wouldn't take it back if it was opened.... Great.. all the bits and pieces were well labeled and it took me around 5-10 mins to work through the parts.

+_+ Assembling +_+

Like I have said the manual was a god sent in being as instructive as it was . There weren't many tricks involved, it was straight forward if you followed every line/step of the instructions. I needed to call my hubby to help me with some of it as some of the parts that went on were a bit too big/fiddly for a single person to assemble . Proves that I am not really the supermom I believe myself in being.

It took me around 5 hours with a bit of help from my hubby to assemble the whole setup. It would have been quicker had my daughter not pitched in to help. According to the manual it should take two people around 2hours..well I would say 3 hours would be a more accurate estimation .

+_+ End Product _+_

There after 5 hours of loads of effort I had this really impressive storage bed standing 4 feet(119.5 cm) tall in front of me. It is around 97cms in width ( I fit in easily with my daughter hence it is as wide as a single bed, hence easy to get bedding ) and is about 197cms long ...if it lasts would see her into her teens.

It has a pull out computer desk on rollers on the left, a set of two steps (steel) in the centre ,a large drawer , two shelves with a door on it and a lovely little den at the back with a little door that opens outwards, two little shelves for books on the extreme right . The gap over the steps is adequate for an adult of size 8-10 to sit at.(not sure I if that makes sense, I sometimes sit wedged in there while reading my little one her book).There are steel railings next to the mattress on the outside for security.

+_+ Our Opinion+_+

I had loads of qualms about how the migration to her own room would be for my daughter as I had left it for too long (not on choice) , I shouldn't have worried , she never sleeps anywhere else these days , thanks to the bed. She loves to play in the little den at the back..we have put in most of her little toys there and the room really remains tidy. If the computer desk isn't pulled out it can be a bit dark and stuffy in there , but when pulled out my daughter uses it as a tunnel .

The little door to the den bangs shut and isn't that ideal for little children as they might slam it shut on their fingers. When I was looking at the item description online no age recommendation was given , however the pack said over 6years...and truly this bed would be ideal for slightly older children .

If anybody does make up their mind to buy this bed I would suggest that they should measure the space they have and then add a foot and a half extra to the space (lengthwise) as the door to the den opens outwards and needs that much space to open fully.

The door to the shelves came off even while we were setting the bed up and that is a drawback . The bed in itself is very sturdy and stable and hasn't creaked or croaked yet , even though every night one of us adults lie on it and read her , her books. The outer layer is a different story altogether..the beech effect covering easily chips off . I need to pussyfoot around it while hoovering , well this really should have been more tenacious as it is meant for kids (and boys ?), however I can't really complain as it isn't really an expensive bed .

I went for the hypoallergic mattress as the reviews for the mattress that actually go with the bed showed how low quality they were. I am happy with the quality of the mattress , however a normal single mattress should fit easily.

I am using it for my three year old , who sleeps very nicely but I am still apprehensive that she might fall off through the gap for the steps... however this would be ideal for slightly older kids.

It is a very sturdy and compact bed with that extra oomph that should hopefully provide us with loads of years of use in my opinion and would be ideal for anyone who has a smallish box-room which they want to convert to a kids room as it has such a great deal of storage space .